Frank is a pleasure seeker who takes what he wants without any consideration for others. He forces himself upon his brother Rory's beautiful wife Julia one week before their wedding; however, Julia does not resist him. Julia is an incredibly beautiful woman but also self absorbed and easily bored. She is secretly lusting for Frank while staying married to Rory for the financial support he provides. Frank travels the world in search of pleasure and after a while no earthly pleasures can satisfy him. Frank explores a rumor regarding a mysterious box, called the Lemarchand box. It is said to provide a gateway into another dimension of unfathomable pleasures. Frank finds the box and buys it from a man named Kircher. He later solves the puzzle box in his grandparent's old house. Once he solves the puzzle; demons called the Cenobites come to collect him. Unfortunately for Frank they have a very different definition of pleasure and they are primarily concerned with their own pleasure, not Franks. The heartless cenobites do not have any concept of justice, fairness, or goodness. Like wolves tearing a baby apart, they rip Frank's flesh into pieces and tear his soul apart, in an orgy of never ending sexual torture. Frank is in Hell and he cannot escape.

Julia and Rory move into Rory's grandparent's house (where Frank vanished) and they begin to remodel the house. Rory gets hurt and a substantial amount of blood drips onto the floor. This weakens the boundary between our world and the dimension of the cenobites. This makes it possible for Frank to communice with Julia, and he tells her that he needs blood, and a lot of it. Julia begins picking up men in the town, but instead of giving them sex she slaughters them so that Frank subsequently can feed upon their bodies. The description of her slaughter of the half naked men is at times quite graphic. Naturally things will not work out as they planned. There is hell to pay.


About the book

This horror novella was originally published in 1986 by Dark Harvest as part of an anthology series called Night Visions and as a stand alone title by Harper Collins in 1988. This is the paper back edition by Harper from 2007. The successful horror movie Hellraiser is based upon this novella. The movie is not identical to the book. They added some elements to the movie, like the depiction of the kingdom of Leviathan, and the woman who is torn to pieces with hooks in the beginning of the movie. In the book it is only Frank who is torn to pieces with hooks. The cenobites do not look the same, for example, the "pinhead" character in the movie is a guy with a loud deep voice but in the book he/she is a girlish asexual creature. Kirsty, the good natured homely girl and friend of Rory is depicted as Rory's daughter in the movie (if I don't remember incorrectly). There are also many things that you cannot show in a movie, for example, a naked demon woman sitting on top rotting human heads, and strongly sexual passages, so the movie will not contain such items. Most importantly the book describes feelings, relationships and thoughts which the movie could not depict. It is worth reading the book even if you have seen the movie. The character development of Frank and Julia was good, however, I found it lacking in regards to Rory and Kirsty (the good people).


My reading experience

This short book is definitely a page turner. It is an exciting read; however, what grabbed me as a reader was the bizarre imagery and Barker's ability to tell a deeply disturbing story so well. Clive Barker is definitely a fantastic author with an incredible imagination. When I read the book I was engulfed by both a morbid curiosity and disgust. As a horror novella Hellbound heart is definitely a master piece. However, I am still not sure the book is for everyone, and I am not sure it was for me either. I am not really into gore, extreme cruelty, and hellish realms and to me the book was somewhat disturbing. It planted images in my mind that I think I'd rather be without. It is impossible to give this book less then four stars since it is so well written and creative, however, I am taking off a star because I found it disturbing. I have also read most of the stories in Books of Blood, by Clive Barker, and I found some of the stories in Books of Blood quite disturbing. I've read another book by Clive Barker, "Mister B. Gone", which most Clive Barker fans do not like. For me this was a better book, despite it not being as intense. That was because it was sort of a "Clive Barker light". It depends on how you see it I guess.


Final recommendation

If you like an intense and morbid horror story then this book is definitely a five star item, and more than that. In fact the combination of sheer disturbing horror, highly creative horrid imagery, and perfect story telling makes this a fantastic novella for hard core horror fans. However, if you like a less intense and less morbid horror story then this novella could be too much for you. Be forewarned, in either case you will probably not be able to put it down. What ever you do, do not allow this book into the hands of children.

Mister B. Gone


Recommended: Yes